Office 365 University Pricing: Cheap 4-Year Deal

Pricing has been announced for a new version of Microsoft Office 365 tailored specifically to university students, staff, and scholars. Microsoft says the software is available as a four-year subscription for $79.99.

That works out to about $1.67 per month.

Microsoft also says any student who continues their education beyond four years (say, by entering a graduate program) can renew their subscription to the software for four more years at the same price.

Documents Automatically Saved to the Cloud

Office 365 University automatically saves its documents to Microsoft's SkyDrive cloud storage service. Included in the $79.99 four-year subscription is access to 27GB of storage space on SkyDrive.

Users of Office 365 University will also be able to install the software on two different devices. That's convenient, since some computers don't last four years and because many students now prefer tablet devices.

A fairly comprehensive software package, Office 365 University gives users access to online editions of Word, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, and Access. (Source: pcmag.com)

Microsoft also announced that if you've already purchased Office University 2010 for Windows or Mac, you'll get access to the Office 365 University package at no cost.

Staff, Faculty Also Qualify for Deal

Microsoft is offering this same Office 365 University package and pricing to all university staff and faculty, as well as to students.

Naturally, buyers of this software deal will need to verify their academic credentials through an online portal.

In recent months, a number of major U.S. post-secondary educational institutions have announced they're switching to Microsoft Office 365 software. The list includes Thomas Jefferson University, Emory University, and the University of Washington.

Duke University's Tracy Futhey has also given Microsoft cloud-based software a major thumbs up.

"Moving to the Microsoft cloud environment will enable us to achieve greater efficiency and ensure that our users will have the level of protection necessary to keep Duke's data private, including guaranteeing that our data servers would stay in the US," Futhey said. (Source: informationweek.com)